India Inc. has a very positive hiring outlook; as many as 79 percent organizations project increased hiring in 2016-17. Evolved jobseekers, threat from competitors and an increasing demand from business are poised to put a lot of pressure on Talent Acquisition teams. In the age when candidate is king , talent acquisition teams need to attune themselves to the trends in the talent market to be effective at attracting the right talent. 

In view of this, Aon Hewitt, in partnership with People Matters, conducted the “Decoding Hiring Trends in India 2016 Study,” which provides inputs on ‘Hiring Drivers’, ‘Hiring Outlook’, ‘Hiring Practices’ and ‘Hiring Metrics’.The study captured responses from 160 organizations in more than 12 industries to understand talent acquisition priorities of these companies. 

Here are the key findings of the study

Where is the organization focus?

Talent engagement. Talent selects the organization!

Organizations have identified engagement with passive talent as a key talent acquisition priority.48 percent of organizations identify ‘Engagement with passive talent’ when done effectively by competitors is a top threat to losing talent. Creating and nurturing a strong talent pool  will be the core differentiator of talent acquisition  teams.  

Organizations realize the power of social networks for sourcing of  passive talent. The study revealed that the top recruitment priority of organizations is to leverage social networks for sourcing talent (43 percent organizations).To support this strategic imperative, 37 percent organizations are increasing investments to enhance their social media presence which can further be utilized for engaging talent, as well as effectively communicating the employer brand.

Employer branding. The driver of talent 

Having a well defined and consistently communicated employer brand is a clear competitive advantage. 29 percent of the organizations surveyed have cited building and communicating of their employer brand as one of the most important priorities for their organizations. 

With the talent sourcing approachchanging from push to pull, having an effective strategy for employer branding has become imperative to businesses. 39 percent organizations are increasing their wallet share in ‘branding and marketing’, with an objective of communicating the employer brand effectively.

Organizations are also investing in building the employer brand internally to decrease external dependencies for sourcing and using their employees’ networks to source talent. 33 percent companies plan to increase spend to further utilize employee referrals for sourcing talent.

Process efficiencies. Changing the recruiter role

Recruitment budgets are increasing in 67 percent organizations, but the additional budgetis not being spent on increasing the size of recruitment team. Only 21 percent of companies report wallet share increase for ‘recruitment team cost’, thereby adding tomargin pressures.

To aid recruiters in keeping up with the business need of hiring talent, organizations are increasing investment in HR technology/platforms to bring process efficiencies in recruitment processes. 42 percent organizations report an increase in wallet share for this component. 50 percent have already digitized some of their recruitment processes, while 30 percent plan to digitize the entire recruitment cycle by the end of 2016.

Digitizing recruitment processes also creates an opportunity to utilize the skills of the Talent Acquisition team differently. With technology driving the operational part of the recruitment cycle, TA professionals can now play a more strategic role and be ‘trusted talent advisors to business’; something which is the third most important recruitment priority for organizations.

Evolved metrics

The dominant hiring metrics currently are speed and cost of hiring, with 55 percent organizations tracking ‘time to fill’ and 44 percent organizations tracking ‘cost per hire’. Further, organizations are moving towards measuring ‘quality of hire’, with 30 percent organizations wanting to track ‘quality of hire’ consistently in the comingyear.

Going forward, organizations will have to move towards data-driven decision making in talent acquisition and effectively measuring quality of hire. Pre hiring assessments remain more important than ever before 65 percent of organizations have dedicated capability for assessments, data analytics and technology. However, leveraging big data for effective hiring decisions is still at a nascent stage.

The way forward

India Inc. is bullish about its hiring plans, as clearly articulated by the study. “As fundamentals of the economy further improve, India Inc. will see further increase in talent demand across sectors. HR and TA teams will come under significant pressure to attract and retain the best talent that business needs to drive organizational performance,” says Nitin Sethi, Partner and CCO at Aon Hewitt, India. 

And going ahead, the talent attraction strategy has to be aligned with the trends in the job market.  The evolution of talent attraction strategies will require significant investment in the recruitment teams to ensure their readiness for the future. Organizations have underlined quality of hire as one of the most important metrics to track hiring effectiveness, and to ensure that hiring managers have to be equipped with the requisite assessment skills. In this backdrop, 50 percent organizations are investing in building the interviewing capabilities of hiring managers and 54 percent are seeking hiring manager feedback onthe hiring process and effectiveness. Hiring manager effectiveness in identifying the best talent and their true support as trusted talent advisors to business is what will keep organizations ahead of the curve and help them become a preferred employer for the best talent.

Note: The Aon Hewitt People Matters Decoding Hiring Trends Study 2016 is available at the Aon website. You can visit the Aon Hewitt website to download a copy.